More Essential Than Ever | 023 | Community Colleges
The critical role of community colleges, and why their impact depends on relentless improvement.
I’m grateful to a Columbia University Teachers College’s CCRC (Community College Research Center) team for appreciating the value of inquiry & action teams. I’m thankful for their feature of this work earlier this year, and now to see it mentioned in their latest book, More Essential Than Ever: Community College Pathways to Educational and Career Success, warms my heart.
As many of my readers have learned, the most recent example of inquiry & action teams increased student success and significantly reduced equity gaps (even reversing them in some cases) among participating faculty at Ventura College. Here’s an example of one team’s hard work and outcomes.
• Success Rate: 54.3% → 76.9%
• Retention Rate: 85.2% → 94.2%
• Hispanic Success: 51% → 75%
• Hispanic Retention: 84% → 94%
• Female Success: 55% → 78%
• Female Retention: 88% → 94%
We’re expanding the work at Ventura College. In a time when higher education is under attack, Ventura College reminds us of what’s still within our control: our classrooms, our practices, and our commitment to student success and equity.
Inquiry & action teams have also been implemented at Irvine Valley College, Grossmont College, Long Beach City College, Miramar College, and Santa Barbara City College. All teams have worked hard to continually improve their craft and better outcomes.
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The authors also include a discussion guide.
“Each section of this guide provides topics and questions for discussion based on the book’s chapters:
The Introduction lays out the thesis of the book and introduces five reform “frontiers” for strengthening pathways to post-completion success for students.
Chapter 1 outlines the progress early adopter colleges have made in enacting large-scale changes and discusses their effects on student progression.
Chapters 2 through 6 provide lessons the authors learned about transforming college practice in five frontiers of reform: (1) ensuring the post-completion value of programs; (2) strengthening teaching and learning; (3) improving recruiting and student onboarding into a program of study; (4) revamping advising, scheduling, and supports to ensure students complete on schedule; and (5) building on-ramps to college and career pathways for students after high school.
Chapter 7 offers lessons on rethinking college organization and finance to enable faculty and staff to work together in ways that more effectively lead to improved student learning and success.
Chapter 8 considers the support and funding state systems can provide to help colleges undertake and sustain these reforms.
The guide can help colleges explore practical steps to strengthen student success and consider ways to sustain change over time.”1
A big thank you to Davis Jenkins, Hana Lahr, John Fink, Serena Klempin, and Maggie Fay!
Let’s connect on LinkedIn.
Onward…
Dr. Al Solano
Founder, Continuous Learning Institute | About
Host, Student Success Podcast
A meaningful test of success is how helpful we are in contributing to our fellow human being’s happiness.